Some Things Never Change
by A Thousand Years On Earth
Summary: A second posting of my first shot at writing.  ShigureXOC - oneshot


He stared at the computer screen mutely, briefly thinking of the former classmate he used as a basis for many of his female characters. He nearly always incorporated some feature of hers into them, consciously or unconsciously. He supposed it was the elegance he remembered her having throughout high school. Or the quiet strength he always knew she possessed. Shigure sighed. This was no time to be reminiscing about lost friends; Mitchan was supposed to visit today. He grinned to himself, thinking about all the ways he might drive her insane this time.

At that very same moment, a young woman was standing in front of the severely distraught editor in question.

"Calm down, calm down!" The young editor waved her hands frantically at the raving woman before her. "I'm sure he's just taunting you again, now calm down!" The woman sobbed, banging her fist on the desk, refusing to listen. Kotone sighed.

"I'll go. Okay? I'll fill in for you, please just calm down!"

Kotone stood in front of the large house, double-checking the address. In shaky handwriting, SOHMA, Shigure, was scrawled on Mitchan's note. The name rang some dim bell in the back of her mind, but she shrugged it off. She'd listen to her senior moan hysterically about this man, and dreaded dealing with him and his type. As she was about to knock on the door, a young man's voice called out from behind her.

"May I help you?" Kotone whirled around and spotted a handsome looking young highschooler. She smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, hello. My name is Nakano Kotone, I'm here on behalf of Mitchan. Mr. Sohma's editor? I've come to meet with him regarding his deadline," she explained. He nodded to show he understood. A girl Kotone hadn't noticed at first burst forth gleefully.

"Oh! Please come in! I'll make some tea and bring out snacks while we wait for Shigure!" She ran up to the door and hurried in, "Please come in!" she repeated. Kotone was startled by the girl's unexpected enthusiasm. She turned to the boy as if for confirmation. He smiled and said with carefully controlled politeness, "Please, join us inside while you wait." Kotone nodded and followed him inside.

"Oh, excuse me; my name is Yuki," he explained, and, seeing the question on her face, added, "Shigure is my cousin." Kotone nodded.

"I see. Is your cousin home?" she questioned, gazing around the house.

"Yes. More than likely he was expecting Mitchan, and intended to make her...sweat." He said the last part as though he knew how Mitchan was reacting this very moment. Kotone grinned and looked sideways, thinking of the woman she called 'boss'. She sighed.

"Yes, Mitchan wasn't, ah…feeling very well this morning…" she mumbled weakly. She followed Yuki into the house and into the kitchen and he motioned for her to take a seat. Tohru was busy fixing the tea and snacks. Just as Kotone sat down, there was a loud bang, and she turned to see the author in question waltz into the kitchen dramatically, a mischievous grin on his handsome face.

"Oh, Mitchan, I'm so sorry to tell you-…Well. You are not Mitchan." he stated, staring blankly at her. She shook her head.

"No." Shigure was confused. Suddenly he was face to face with his female muse, the old friend he'd been thinking of earlier.

"Well this is a strange turn of events…" Kotone murmured softly, echoing the words going through Shigure's head. She recognized him too. The pair eyed each other up and down, taking in the changes of time of their former friend. Yuki took this time to drag Tohru from her place at the counter, out of the kitchen, and away from his theatrical cousin and sensing a 'moment' he'd rather not bother with in the works. Kotone finally sighed, mildly surprising him.

"I should have known it was you, really," she said, running a hand through her long hair, pushing it off her forehead. She laughed and pulled out Mitchan's note with his name on it. "I don't know why I didn't realize sooner. The effect on Mitchan, the name," He laughed along with her.

"So, what brings you here, Kotone? And where is my Mitchan?" he asked, smirking devilishly, "Don't tell me; you work with Mitchan now?" She nodded. The conversation faltered, the atmosphere darkening somewhat as he asked his next question.

"Where have you been all these years?" What he meant, and she knew it, was "Why did you leave school so suddenly?" She chose to ignore the unspoken question and answered superficially.

"Traveling. I went to university and decided I wanted to travel before anything else, and now I've got this editor's assistant job with Mitchan." she answered easily, not quite looking him in the eye.

"I see…"

"And, being that I am not Mitchan, I suggest we get to work. Onward, _Mr. Big-time-author-Sohma_," she teased, returning to a high school state of mind.

"As you wish, _Mini-Mitchan_," he replied. They laughed their way to his office.

Kotone absently tucked her hair behind her ear as she shuffled through the papers. Immediately, Shigure noticed and recognized the tiny and distinct piercing in Kotone's ear. He smiled faintly.

"Still have that piercing, eh?" he offered up to break the silence. He watched her eyebrow rise.

"Of course. What, did you think I'd remove it?" she questioned, turning to face him with her head cocked to one side. He smiled again.

"No, of course not." Shigure laughed suddenly and sharply to himself. Kotone's head cocked to one side again as she eyed him.

"…What?" she asked curiously. He shook his head.

"I was just remembering the day you got it." She blinked once, before she too laughed at the memory.

"Yeah. It was your fault, wasn't it!" she said accusingly. "Yours or Ayame's. You two were such schemers. Hmph, you probably still are!" Shigure spread his hands in mock defense.

"Hey, you lost the bet! And if I recall, you had another option," he said with a smirk. Kotone flushed slightly, and gave a short laugh.

"Sure, to kiss you on the mouth!" He feigned hurt.

"Would that have been so terrible?" She smirked this time.

"No, o-of course not." She rolled her eyes. "But I did kind of want to get my ears pierced, and Ayame was paying for it…I never would have been brave enough on my own." Shigure snorted.

"You weren't brave enough that time. We nearly dragged you to the parlor, remember? And then Ayame surprised all of us by getting you that particular piercing." He laughed at this, remembering Kotone's look of utter surprise when she realized what she'd just gotten pierced. "You cried."

"It hurt! A lot!" Kotone argued, but laughed along with him. "In the end, I loved it." Shigure smiled and replaced her hair behind her ear to reveal said piercing once more.

"It suits you. It always did." She smiled softly. His smile faded slowly to a frown.

"What happened?" he asked out of the blue, dampening the mirthful moment. Not really out of the blue, Kotone thought, because she'd been anticipating it. She decided it would be easiest _not_ to play dumb.

"My grandmother died."

"Oh…I'm sorry-"

"Not now! Then!" she rolled her eyes in exasperation, but smiled. "She died and my grandfather was totally lost without her. My mom decided she, and therefore _we_, needed to move in with him and help out. Immediately." She looked off to one side, and sensing his next questioned, continued.

"I did come back, once. To explain. I wanted to say goodbye to all of you. But…" He looked up. "I got there, and I heard all the different rumors going around about why I might have left. Some of them were awful. And one of the girls mentioned something about you finally being rid of me, so I just left." Kotone laughed softly to herself. "Looking back, it was quite silly of me to do. I should have just marched right up to you all, explained myself, and hugged you to death." He winced. "But I let it get to me, and I left." she finished. Shigure decided not to press the matter, sensing her regret from all those years ago. Instead, he placed a hand on her cheek and brought her face to face with him.

"I've missed you, Kotone." he told her, locking eyes with her. She leaned into his touch slightly and half-smiled.

"Yeah. I've missed you too."

When the reminiscing and work had finished, Kotone announced that she had to leave.

"I've got work tomorrow, plus a ton of errands to run." she explained, politely declining his offer to stay for dinner. He grabbed her wrist gently as she made a move for the door.

"Can't we at least have lunch sometime? Come on, Kotone, I lost you once. Can't I take a pretty girl out to lunch?" Her cheeks flushed lightly.

"All right," she conceded, "In fact, I think you owe me a lunch from high school!" He laughed, and, drawing her a bit closer, smirked.

"And wear something a little more…flattering," he suggested smoothly. Kotone made a "ch" noise and lightly shoved him away with the tips of her fingers.

"Yup, haven't changed a bit." She turned to leave, but looked backwards to flash him a warm smile.

"See you then!"

Shigure watched her retreating form before he walked back to his office. Sitting down in his chair, he noticed a note on his desk that hadn't been there earlier. He grabbed it slowly; it was from Kotone. On it was simply her number and the short message _Because I knew you'd need it eventually_. Pausing for a moment, Shigure thought about his next move and then set to reworking parts of his latest manuscript to fit his sudden inspiration, all the while a large, mischievous grin on his face.

The two old friends made their way up to the Sohma house porch. It was a warm, sunny day, a week after their little reunion, and Shigure had finally asked Kotone out to lunch. Kotone _had_ worn something more flattering, a pale green summery dress that always won her compliments. She found she wanted more than a little bit to catch his eye after all these years.

"Lunch was lovely. Thank you again, Shigure," Kotone smiled at him warmly, exactly the way he remembered he smiling in high school. He smiled affectionately right back, shaking his head.

"It was my pleasure to dine with such beauty," he said with a wink. She snorted at this, but blushed deeply all the same.

"Finally! There you are! Now give it to me! Give it to me like you promised!" Kotone and Shigure looked up startled towards the sudden outburst. Mitchan was standing by the door, hand out.

"You promised you would give me the finished manuscript if I came here today!" She was in near hysterics, as this man so often had her. He smiled reassuringly and waved his hands dismissively. Kotone glanced back and forth between the two with mild interest. Mitchan finally noticed her.

"Kotone? What are you doing here? You two are in cahoots, aren't you?" she wailed, bursting into tears. Kotone jumped at the accusation, and shook her head rapidly.

"Ahh! No, of course not!" Shigure broke in to save her, smiling sheepishly.

"No, no, we are not 'in cahoots', Mitchan. Miss Nakano and I are old acquaintances and had lunch this afternoon. I have the manuscript, and I will retrieve it momentarily. But I would like to show Kotone the changes I've made recently…" He dashed off into the house, leaving Kotone and his teary editor watching his form blankly. Shigure returned just as quickly, grinning madly as he handed the stack of papers to a wary Kotone.

"I've made some changes, you can just skim through the bits you've read already, the parts I've changed are marked off with those tags," he told her, eyes glinting in the sunlight. Taking them gingerly, Kotone eyed the improved script, her features slowly changing from worry to surprise.

"I must say, I am impressed. This time you've managed to steer clear of the typical filth you write," she praised, but faltered as she flipped the page, "You've really…really…" Kotone frowned, and skimmed through the last forty or so pages of the manuscript. She looked increasing perturbed as Shigure looked increasingly pleased with himself. An eyebrow began to twitch as she turned towards him slowly, head down. Mitchan looked at her questioningly and Kotone thrust the manuscript at her. It wasn't long before she realized why Kotone was so disturbed.

"_And Daisuke, taking Asuka in his arms, pulled back her hair and brought his lips to her ear, his mouth brushing against the unique piercing of her ear._" Mitchan looked at Kotone's ear with a spark of recognition, "_She shuddered with pleasure and he_-oh my…"

"You…" Kotone growled. He was grinning like an idiot as he filled in for her.

"Have really outdone myself with novelizing your distinct and particular personality, and creating such a romantic, sweet, sensuous moment-"

"Vile! You've put ME in such a tasteless, smutty-"

"Don't forget flattering!" Kotone stared at him, sputtering.

"Fl-flattering?" Mitchan saw a chance to escape with the manuscript she so desperately demanded from the charmer. She left the pair arguing and jetted off with Shigure's work. Kotone noticed last minute as Mitchan threw herself into her car.

"HEY!" She bellowed at her betrayer, "Bring that ba-aaa…" Shigure had gently taken her wrists, keeping them at her side, and placed his mouth over hers. Kotone quit humming into the kiss and allowed herself to enjoy the feeling of an experience she'd imagined so many times in high school. Never removing his grasp on her wrists, he pulled back and smiled at her disarmingly.

"I've wanted to do that since high school," he admitted sweetly, and Kotone felt herself flush. The look in her eyes told him she felt the same. Shigure's smile turned devious.

"Now, shall we-" he pressed his lips to her uniquely pierced ear and whispered the rest of his suggestion to her. Her large, dark blue eyes flew open as she remembered the manuscript, and she howled after her boss.

"Mitchaaaaaaan!"


End file.
